‘I’ve had a crash and I don’t know where I am’: 999 operator kept motorist talking for 40 minutes during rescue

A motorist who lost her memory when her car careered into a 15ft ditch yesterday met the police worker who helped track her via her mobile phone.

Lara Williams, 39, was driving her Citroen C3 at night when she lost control, ploughed through a hedge and ended up in a ravine.

She was able to dial 999 but could not recall where she was or what had happened so emergency operator Will East took the call at Gloucestershire Police's
control centre and spoke to her for 40 minutes while officers tried to
pinpoint her location.

Heartfelt thanks: Lara Williams enjoyed an emotional meeting today with emergency operator Will East whose voice kept her conscious after she crashed into a 15ft ditch

Mother-of-two Ms Williams suffered amnesia after smashing her head on the steering wheel and also sustained a broken hip, a fractured vertebrae and broken shoulder.

After the accident, she told emergency services: 'I've just had a car crash and I don't know where I am.

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'I think I've come off a country lane and banged my head. I think I'm down a ditch.

'I don't know where I was driving to. I'm out in the sticks somewhere. My hazard lights have just come on.'

Lucky escape: Lara Williams, 39, suffered memory loss when her car careered down a deep hollow in the Cotswolds

While Mr East kept Ms Williams calm, police used phone masts in the area to narrow her location to a 4km circle.

A rescue team then worked its way inwards and finally heard her cries for help in a tree-covered ditch between Northleach and Stow on the A429 in the Cotswolds.

The NHS secretary was taken to Cheltenham General Hospital where she remained for six weeks after the incident in September.

Ms Williams, of Tredworth, Gloucester, still cannot remember how she came to be there or where she was going.

Meeting Mr East at the control centre in Quedgeley, Gloucester, Ms Williams spoke about how much she owed the 22-year-old.

'He's the only thing that kept me with it really,' she explained.

'His voice kept me calm and kept me from panicking.

'I was nervous about meeting him, but he was very friendly and very good humoured.'

Mr East added: 'It does make me very proud.

'For someone to say that they wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you is very nice.

'I tried to get her to concentrate on looking out for the blue lights, reassuring her that we were on our way.

'Sometimes she did start to get panicked but I managed to turn her around and keep her talking.'

Dice with death: Ms Williams' car after it plunged off a Cotswolds road

Sergeant Mark Woodward, of the control centre, added: 'Lara was fading in and out of consciousness which is very apparent in the calls.

'Will remained calm, helpful and reassuring. It seems like he is asking the same thing over and over - but his motive is in trying to elicit just that little bit more information to help locate her, to check on her welfare and to ensure she remains conscious.

'I don't think we can ever underestimate what they both did that night.'